A sex offender who had been confined at a state center housing violent sexual predators was arrested Friday for two homicides that had gone unsolved since 1995.

The 44-year-old has not been charged, but is expected to face charges this month. Detectives also expect to book him Friday into the Snohomish County Jail. Seattlepi.com does not typically name suspects until they're charged.

Police said he has been a suspect for years and is linked to the crimes by DNA evidence, but wasn't immediately arrested because he was being held at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island.

Investigators say he killed 22-year-old Tracey Brazzel in May 1995 and killed Patti Beery, a 26-year-old mother of a toddler, that July.

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The last interaction people remember with Brazzel didn't seem out of place. She was with friends at a bar – Kodiak Ron's Pub in the 12200 block of state Route 99 in Everett – and said she'd stay late to play a race car video game. No one saw her again.

The investigation was technically a missing person case because Brazzel's body was never found.

Two days later, her white Ford Probe, which was usually parked at her apartment, was found parked down the road from the complex in the 4500 block of 164th Street Southwest. One of the windows was smashed. Investigators believe Brazzel was killed within 10 to 15 miles of that location.

She always reset her trip odometer when she filled up her gas tank. When the car was found, there were 25 miles on the odometer. Investigators have said Brazzel might have met her killer at Kodiak Ron's and gone back to her apartment, or that he might have followed her home.

The family initially offered a $5,000 reward, and increased it to $10,000, hoping someone would come forward. But no one did.

In 2010, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office was notified by the State Patrol Crime Lab that the sex offenders DNA had been linked to evidence in Brazze's case. A DNA link in Beery's case was made two years earlier.

Berry was reported missing July 31, 1995. She was last seen about 1 a.m. the day before leaving her workplace, Honey's Adult Entertainment Club. That was located on state Route 99 near Lynnwood.

Berry's Honda Prelude had a low tire and she planned to look for a place to fill it with air before driving home. That car was later found behind a convenience store in the 400 block of 128th Street Southwest in south Everett, near a car wash that also provided air.

The driver's window was down and a blood was inside and outside the car. Berry's body was found Aug. 8 of that year in a wooded area just south of the Everett Mall. She had been stabbed to death and police say the sex-offenders DNA was found inside the Prelude.

The sex offender now was living in the Lynnwood area at the time of Berry's death and Brazzel's disappearance. A search warrant for a sample of his DNA was served in May 2011.

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"Even though it took 17 years," Sheriff's Office Chief Kevin Prentiss said, "through the dedication and hard work of our detectives, we finally got our man."